


Getting the Bees Back Together

by Kiiratam



Series: The Weissian Conspiracy [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bumbleby Week 2019, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 22:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Blake is trying to repair her friendship with Yang. But to do that, she's going to need a little help from their friends...Takes place between Volumes 5 and 6. (My BMBLB fic index)Written for Bumbleby Week 2019: Day 8: Bonus/VA Appreciation.My test for 'Is this a good line for this character?' is if I can hear their VA saying it. Thank you, Barbara and Arryn, for helping to bring this ship to life!





	Getting the Bees Back Together

Blake looked helplessly at the <NEW MESSAGE> page, blank except for <TO - Yang> field. She looked up at Sun, who smiled at her, nodded encouragingly. She sighed, putting the scroll down. "What do I even say?" _How did I let them talk me into getting this far?_

  
Ilia said, from across the room, cleaning her weapon. "How about, 'would you like to get some tea?'"

  
Sun joined in, "Or 'want to go to a movie?' It's a classic!"

  
"Book store."

  
"Fancy dinner."

  
"Ask if she wants to visit the militia camp."

  
"Go to a demolition derby!"

  
Ilia looked away from oiling her weapon, and pulled a face at Sun. "A what?"

  
He shrugged, tossed himself an apple with his tail. "Do they not have those here? Lots of cars, smashing them into each other, winner is the last one running?"

  
Blake flattened her ears. "I think that's just a Vacuo thing, Sun. It sounds loud and unpleasant, anyway." _And dangerous and awful and I don't know if Yang would actually like it, considering all the work she used to go through to keep Bumblebee looking pristine._

  
"Yeah, loud," Sun took a bite of the apple, and kept on talking, "But come on, unpleasant? Explosions are awesome!"

  
Ilia sighed, snapping the whip blade back into the hilt. "Sun, we're trying to think of things that would be fun for Blake. ...And Yang."

  
"All right, so, Blake: thoughts? Explosions, yes or no?"

  
Blake tried not to scream at him. He was only trying to help, in his own particular way. "No on explosions." _We get enough of those already._

  
"Movie?"

  
"What would we even see? It's not like anyone could agree on a movie when we were at Beacon."

  
"Fancy dinner?"

  
"I'm trying not to spend too much. Besides, that's kind of pushy. I just want something nice, and casual, and not threatening."

  
Ilia got a contemplative look on her face. "Don't make it just the two of you. Bring friends. Gives her some space."

  
"Yeah, then we could come with you! I've been wanting to catch up with everyone! I want to tell Ren about Menagerie cuisine, and Nora about the battle we had with the Sea Feilong. She really hates sea snakes, for some reason. Don't ask me; I can't tell you. And Ruby would love to look at your whip-sword-thing, Ilia! And Jaune would do something stupid, and Weiss would make a sarcastic comment about it! It's perfect!"

  
Sighing, Ilia said. "I hate to encourage Sun, but it would give you cover."

  
Blake deleted Yang's name in the <TO> box, and typed in 'RWBY' and 'JNPR'. Winced, deleted Pyrrha's name from the resulting list. Thinking for a minute, she added Sun and Ilia. Looked less like a conspiracy that way. She typed, <Do folks want to go out and get tea/coffee/whatever tomorrow?>

  
She looked up. "Either of you know a good cafe?"

  
Sun shook his head. "I just get energy drinks at the grocery store."

  
Ilia turned pinkish. "Uh, I've looked around a bit, and there's supposed to be a fantastic tea shop in the mid-upper levels. Rave reviews, good prices."

  
"Great! What's the name?"

  
" _The Jasmine Dragon_."

  
Blake kept typing, <I've heard good things about a place called _The Jasmine Dragon_. Want to meet there around 10am?>

  
"What's near there?" All three of them were bent over their scrolls, looking.

  
Sun found something first. "There's an artisan's market a couple of blocks away."

  
"Mistral Natural History Museum, too." Ilia added.

  
"Just seeing a lot of upscale shops, here." Blake quirked her ears, thinking. "I think the market could have something for everyone."

  
<There's also a local art market nearby, if we want to wander around a bit, too. Let me know!> Blake looked down at the message. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._ She hit send.

  
Ilia and Sun's scrolls both buzzed. Sun went to key the message, and Ilia slapped his hand away.

  
"Hey!"

  
"Do you always answer your scroll right away?"

  
"...No?"

  
"Then wait. Don't mess this up."

  
The three of them sat quietly, waiting for their scrolls to buzz again. Sun, nearly vibrating with the effort. At last, he stood up. "Right, I need to do something. I've been trying to learn to juggle. Blake, toss me those candles."

* * *

They were sitting out in the courtyard, watching Qrow run Oscar through his paces, when their scrolls all buzzed. Yang stayed where she was, as everyone reached for their scrolls. If it was important, they'd tell her. Besides, after what happened a few nights ago, she didn't much like her scroll. She realized that was ridiculous. It wasn't her scroll's fault that she'd charged out into the courtyard, thinking she was going be facing Adam again. Ready to die, trying to save Blake.

  
Nora typed something in, and elbowed Ren. He tapped two keys, and closed his scroll. Jaune looked at his team mates, shrugged, and typed something in.

  
Ruby looked up at her sister. "Aren't you going to check your scroll, Yang?"

  
Yang shrugged.

  
"It's about plans for tomorrow."

  
Weiss made some appreciative noises. "Well, it does have excellent reviews. Even if they don't have coffee. I'm sure I can find something." She started typing.

  
"Come on, Yang, it looks like fun. Just check it. I don't want to go without you."

  
Yang looked out over the courtyard, at the shadows cast by the setting sun, Mistral's hills and valleys spread out below her, fading into black and purple shadows. She checked her scroll.

< **BLAKE** : Do folks want to go out and get tea/coffee/whatever tomorrow? I've heard good things about a place called _The Jasmine Dragon_. Want to meet there around 10am? There's also a local art market nearby, if we want to wander around a bit, too. Let me know!>  
< **NORA** : GREAT! WE'LL BE THERE!>  
< **REN** : +>  
< **JAUNE** : Sure. Better than sitting around.>  
< **SUN** : I'm with Nora. How much caffeine can they put into tea, BTW?>  
< **WEISS** : Well, it may not have coffee, but I can always get coffee here, and then have tea there. Anyone see anything interesting in the market listings?>  
< **ILIA** : I'll come.>  
< **BLAKE** : @Sun legally, or naturally? @Weiss there are some fun-looking jewelers, and someone making replica Grimm heads if Nora still wants one.>  
< **SUN** : Either?>  
< **SUN** : Wait, what? NORA, WHY?>  
< _NORA is typing..._ >

Yang looked at her sister. Ruby shrugged. "Better say something before Nora fills up the chat."

* * *

< **YANG** : k>  
< **RUBY** : Sounds like fun! See you at 10!>  
< _NORA is typing..._ >

Blake let out a breath. She put her scroll down, and looked up at her friends. Ilia nodded, half-smiled. Sun was staring down at his scroll, paging down through Nora's response, his eyes widening.

  
Ilia surreptitiously kicked him. He looked up, flashing a wide grin. "I think it worked."

  
She nodded, trying to stay calm. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._

  
"Is anyone else slightly concerned about what Nora's been writing?"

  
Blake picked up her scroll to read it, hoping for a good distraction.

* * *

Yang looked at her tea suspiciously. It was a lightish red, and did smell good. But there had been so much work into making it, even pouring it for her.

  
Sitting next to her, Ruby leaned over. "What'd you get, sis?"

  
"I just got the first thing that said it had strawberries in it. I forget what it was called."

  
"Oh." Ruby swirled the bubbles around the bottom of her tea. "What about you, Weiss?" She looked across the table.

  
"I just told them I liked coffee more than tea, and told them to change my mind." She sipped her tea. "I'm almost convinced. Blake, what about you?"

  
Across from Yang, Blake cradled her tea cup. "Just my regular green. But this stuff is really high quality; there's a lot more flavor. Must be because it's fresher. It is a Mistral blend, after all."

  
Over at the other table, Ren was showing everyone Proper Tea Drinking Technique. Yang wasn't exactly sure why everyone seemed so enthralled.

  
"Yang, you haven't told us anything about your drive through Mistral." Weiss drew her attention back to the table. "I mean, I know where you ended up, but did anything interesting happen along the way?"

  
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, I told you about what RNJR got up to, but you just started at the bandit camp."

  
All three of them looked at her. "Uhh, pretty boring, I guess. A few Beowolves along the road. A couple of folks asked if I was a Huntress, and got me to take down an Ursa instead of paying for my room. They already knew where it was, so it was pretty open-and-shut. Got stormed on a few times."

  
Blake's ears drooped a bit. "I know how much you hate that. It wasn't too bad?"

  
"I mean, the night I slept under a bridge, and got woke up by a Boarbatusk? Not great. Got under cover most of the time, though. I did meet a farmer who looked just like you, Blake."

  
"Really?"

  
"Same hair, eyes, ears, everything. I mean, she also had about ten kids, so it wasn't a perfect resemblance. But it was pretty uncanny."

  
Weiss took a sip of her drink. "I have heard stories about a kind of Grimm called Dopplegängers. They usually wind up replacing their double and living their life."

  
"I think Mrs. Wolfsbane was more than happy with her life."

  
Ruby cut in, "Blake, do you suddenly want to have a dozen children and go live in the back-country of Mistral?"

  
"Not really."

  
"Weiss, I think we're safe from dopple-whatsits this time. But keep an eye out. I know I've seen people who look like me out of the corner of my eye." Ruby darted her eyes around.

  
Yang finally took a swig of her tea. It wasn't bad. She looked up over the rim of it, saw Blake staring at her.

  
Before she could really react, Weiss cut in, "So Blake, how is Menagerie? I hear it's beautiful."

  
"The livable parts, sure." Blake paused. "It's nice to have a safe place for the Faunus, but it's not nearly big enough for all of us. And even if it was, we're stronger together."

  
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, all of us. Team RWBY included. We're so glad you're back."

  
"And I'm staying with you. To Atlas, and beyond."

  
Yang looked down. Trying to believe her. Wanting to believe her.

  
"Yang, have you looked for any cold weather modifications for Bumblebee?" Weiss had pulled out her scroll. "I've got the Atlas motorcycle code here, if you want to take a look."

  
"Sure." Weiss slid her scroll over.

  
"We've got plenty of space for you to make modifications at the house's garage. I checked it over, and it seemed to have a good set of tools." Weiss frowned. "But I was just checking it against a list of recommended tools, so you'll probably want to take look at it yourself."

  
"So, Blake, no 'bow' anymore?" Ruby supplied the air quotes. "I kinda liked how it looked."

  
Blake put her hands to her ears. "Yeah, it could be cute. But it was really uncomfortable. And I always worried about it."

  
"Oh. Like ladystilts. I still haven't gotten the hang of those. Just big old stompy boots for me!"

  
Weiss sniffed, and turned her head. "You may be my combat skirt buddy, but don't make fun of my heels!"

  
Ruby waved her hands. "No, no, I wasn't making fun! I can't handle them. That you can is really impressive!"

  
"Oh, very well. I accept your apology. I suppose. But don't do it again!"

  
"I won't, I won't!"

  
Yang bit her lip, tried not to laugh. Ruby and Weiss had danced this dance before. She glanced up, saw Blake with the same expression. She swallowed, took a sip of her tea to make it less dry. "I missed you guys."

  
Ruby laughed. "Well, we're going to stick around until you're sick of us. No more leaving."

  
Weiss stole her scroll back. "Now, now, Ruby. I suppose that, with a detailed itinerary, we could _maybe_ authorize a **strictly temporary** leave of absence from team RWBY. I've written up a charter, if anyone wants to take a look at it."

  
Yang looked at her sister's face and laughed. She was trying so hard not to say something mean.

  
Weiss scrolled through to a particular clause. "There are mandatory cookie stockpiles whenever we take on supplies."

  
Breaking into a wide grin, Ruby said, "Well, why didn't you lead with that? Send it to me, Weiss, I'll look it over."

  
Blake said, "As long as we're not operating as an arm of the SDC, sounds good to me."

  
"Please. No, we would be under the authorization of Menagerie. I talked to your mother about it. I'll just send it to everyone, and we can talk about it later." She worked on her scroll, taking another drink.

  
Ruby looked at Blake. "So, were you going to come stay at the house? We can make room. And we need to start doing team exercises again. Checkmate went out a little sloppy at Haven. And Bumblebee the bike may be fine, but Bumblebee the maneuver is probably a bit rusty!" She darted her eyes between Blake and Yang, took a long slurp from her tea.

  
Blake took a long drink, and set the tea cup down. "I'd like that. So long as you don't mind Sun and Ilia hanging around, too." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "I really don't want to leave Sun alone with my parents."

  
Snorting, Yang said, "Yeah, I hear your mom has been pumping him for information."

  
"Exactly! I can't leave them alone. I bet she's been telling him all my embarrassing little kid stories, too."

  
Ruby smiled, "Sure, bring everyone. It'll be good to have some new people to spar with. And get your cute kid stories out of Sun."

  
Blake put a hand to her mouth in mock horror. "I've made a terrible mistake."

  
"Hey, you can just ask Yang for all my embarrassing stories." Ruby reached behind her head, "Some of them maaaaay be more recent. Like, when we were both at Signal recent."

  
Reaching up, Yang tugged on her sister's cloak. "How about when you got this caught in a revolving door?"

  
"Hey, at least wait until I'm in another room."

  
"And miss your facial expressions? C'mon, that's at least half the fun, sis."

  
"I am already full of regret."

* * *

Blake was aware of what her friends were doing - all of them. They swirled around the market, trading off partners in ways that seemed natural. Nora and Ren were mostly hanging out together, but then Ren came up to fill an awkward pause between her and Yang, to compliment her on her choice of tea shops. And then Ruby came and dragged him off to look at knives. Weiss came by, and pointed out a shop doing auto decals, when Yang stopped talking. And left to look at fancy dresses with Ilia, when Yang got excited and started talking. Sun swung by when they looked a bit too serious, trying to juggle balls between his hands and tail. And got chased off by Jaune for some reason she didn't catch, getting them both laughing again.

  
But despite all the switching round, she and Yang were always together, in the center of the pack. They were talking again. Not about anything important, just silly, trivial details. She pointed out a pair of sun and moon necklaces that Yang bought for herself and Ruby. Yang dragged her over to a tea vendor and Blake bought a tea brick of her Mistral green. It finally felt like Yang was relaxing. Letting them fit together again.

  
After Blake had torn them apart. With the best of intentions, but not in the best frame of mind to consider how Yang might feel about it. She'd had to time to think about it, with the help of her friends and parents. To see how she'd hurt Yang, and how to never do it again.

  
"Hey, Blake." Yang caught her eye, tossed her a motorcycle helmet. "Does it fit?"

  
She tried it on, wiggled her ears experimentally. "Yup." She handed it back.

  
"I left my spare back on Patch, sorry. I didn't think I would need it."

  
Blake nodded. "Well, here I am. Sorry about that."

  
"Hey, don't apologize for being here." Yang smiled. "I'm just glad you're back. So, did you just want plain black, purple, a decal? I mean, I figure you may as well actually have your own helmet."

  
"Plain black is fine."

  
"I think we should also get some ties to hold your coat out of the way. Just for safety. It does look really good. And should be thick enough to protect you, if we take a spill."

  
"Sounds good. Did you want to pick up any of the winter modifications Weiss mentioned?"

  
Yang shrugged. "We've got at least a week before we leave. I should do my reading first. You want to help? I can always use a wrench wench."

  
"Sure. I'm out of practice, though. You may have to run me through all the tools again."

  
"I need to check out what we have back at the house anyway. We can do that as a refresher, then get the tools and parts I need."

  
"Tomorrow?" Blake tried not to sound too eager. She wasn't sure how well she managed. "I can get all my stuff packed up tonight, and come over there tomorrow morning. Let you have a night to do your reading." _Breathe in, give her space, hold it, be there for her, breathe out._

  
Yang pursed her lips. "I don't want to rush you. I know you haven't seen your parents in a long time, and I'm sure you want to take your time saying good-bye. Plus, I don't know how much stuff you have to do with the Menagerie militia."

  
"It's no rush. My parents have over a week to say good-bye. And all I really did with the militia was get them moving - other people have taken over the organizing." She reached out, brushed Yang's shoulder. "And like Ruby says, I need to start training with you - all of you- again." Blake made sure she had Yang's attention, and flashed her a thumbs-up. It had been a long time since they'd started using hand signals on Bumblebee, but that one was for 'speed is good, keep it up.'

  
Yang bit her lip, nodded. She turned around, paying the vendor for the helmet, and swung back to hand it back to Blake. "Your helmet, Miss Belladonna."

  
"Thank you, Miss Xiao Long." Blake said. "Oh, speaking of formality, I picked up _Debutantes of Ardor_. It's just-" She waved a hand. "-so romantic. I almost didn't notice the lack of fights."

  
Yang snorted. "It's going to be tough to beat _Sais of Passion_ , but I can give it a try. Oh, that reminds me. Ruby and dad got some of our stuff out of our rooms at Beacon. So there's a box of your stuff, mostly books, back on Patch. But-" she dug into a pocket, pulling out a slim blue volume. "I did grab one for you. Well, for me, but it is your book. I was just borrowing it." She handed it over. "It got a little banged up on the road, sorry."

  
"Good old FitzBattleaxe." Blake tucked _Romantic Verses of Sapphire FitzBattleaxe_ into her coat pocket. "Thanks, Yang." One of the poems sprang to her mind, unbidden.

"I desire  
And I crave.  
You set me on fire."

Sun charged over, waving everyone closer. "So, I followed my nose, and I think I may have found a ramen shop as good as the one back in Vale. Who's hungry? And yes, Blake, they do have fresh fish."

  
Ruby rubbed her stomach. "Starved."

  
Nora added, "Extra starved."

  
"I could eat." said Jaune. Ilia nodded along.

  
Weiss checked her scroll, then nodded. "It is lunch time." Ren seemed convinced by that.

  
Yang laughed. "You're the man with a nose for ramen joints, Sun. Lead on."

  
Blake smiled, nodded. She reached down and took Yang's hand.

  
Startled, Yang turned and looked into her eyes. Blake squeezed her friend's hand, then started forward after Sun. Yang laughed, and hurried along, their hands tightly clasped together.

**Author's Note:**

> The poem is from the fragments of Sappho, translated by Julia Dubnoff.


End file.
